Improvement in harvesters



n. L. EMERSN.

Harvesefr Cuer.

No. 33,918. v Patented Dec. 10.1861.

d cut from that which is standing.

STA

AT unioni@ D ANIEL L. EMERSON, OF ROOKFORD, ILLINOIS, ASSIGNOR TO MARY l NANNY, or SAME PLACE.

imp soveivisnr Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. hitl, dated December l0l mit To all whom, it may concern:

Beit known that I, DANIEL L. EMERSON, of Rockford, in the county of lVinnebago and State ot' illinois, have invented certain new und useul Improvements in Harvesters; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description oi' my said invention, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which- Figure'l represents un application of my limprovements to the finger-beam of a harvestinganztchine. Fig. 2 represents it front elevation of the sume. Fig. 3 represents n vertical transverse section ot the machine at the line e n: of Fig. 2, und l represents aJ horizontal section ot' the divider oi' the muchinc at the line x x ot' Fig.

My invention is divided into parts, thetirs ot' which has reference to harvestingV4 machines of all descriptions, which are fitted with :t divider to divide the portion of the erop to be ln lmrvestiug-inaehines constructed previous to in v invention the divider is n pointed wedge.li'irmed instrument whose point.y is tin'med bythe iront eouvergino,y ctrei'nities ot'` its sides, top, und bottom when the divider is solid. und by the converging extremities Ot' its ribs or liourds whenthe divider in skeleton i'orm. A di- .vider with such u rigid point is objectionable l'or sev ernl rezisons. ln the tirst pince, when 'meting upon lodged Ao jruin or gruss, it gathers :t bunch ol.' `the egress or grain upon its point hy breaking oit' the grass or grain or pulling` it up by the roots, und this hunch, eurried along upon the divider, crushes down the erop into which. the divider enters, so tlnit u portion oi' the crop which is divided oil' to be. out hy the cutter ot' the hnrvester is imperfertly out, while u portion ot' the erop lett uncut :it: the. outer side Ot' the divider is not in n position to he properly eut when the nmehine returns to out the next succeeding; swnth. A goin, the resistance ot the shouting erop to the onwnrd movement oi' the linnen carried by the rigid pointot' the di\- ider presents :i serious impedh ment to the ii'nwnrd movement ol' the divider, thus't-ending to euuse thc divider side olf the machine to lng .behind the side nt w hich the horses ure hitched, und musing,` u veryI hezlvy side droit. lltoreover, the bunch gnthered upon the point ot' the divider does not tend to detach itself, but, on the contrary, cont-inually increases in size by fresh accumulations until the-resistance to the forward movement ot' the divider becomes so great that it becomes necessary to stop the machine, to beck vit so as to disengzrge the divider from the bunch ot' material und to make a fresh start. In lodged grain or grass these stoppages nre t'retpientlyv required, and n large amount oi' time is consunied thereby.

The object of the iirst part. ot' my invention is to ohviate the defects otlgirecedingl dividers; und itconsists in combining the body ot" the divider with u wheel located et its front extremity, so tlmt this wheel takes the pince ol' the point of the divider und becomes itsclt' the front end ot' the divider. The wheel so located should be combined with the divider in Such manner that clogging mutter cannot catch in the interstiee between the surface oi. the wheel und the body ot' the' divider to which it issecu red. The wheel-pointed, divider thus formed presents n yielding` snrtuetie tothe crop to be divided 'for cutting, und the wheel turns in one direction or the other, :recording tothe strnins to which it is siiiiieeted. l l, for erinnpls, stalks or leaves ot' lodged gross tend to go upwurd when struck by the wheetpoint. its surlhcc moves with them und tends to disentungle them without lil-editing them or teuring,` up the roots; und it', on the other hund,` stulks or leaves tend to godownwnrd, the wheel turns downward und discnguges itself' t'i'om them, so that the :'iceumulution ot` the lodged material upon the divider and `theditlieulties that arise therefrom nre nniterinllylessened or entirelyprevented. ll'oreover, the wheel ut the, point ofthe divider is'i'reduentl) brought into use us u enrrving"wheel when the inuehine is crossing l'urrowsor sudden depressions, und by rolling;- on the v,aground prevents the divider from digging' 'point t'orelnost into it undfol struction; the l'orwnrd mowementfot the muehine. l y

lhe second port, ol my invention hns reiferenee to the, menos it' iinpurt-iireA :i reeiproe-.ti ing movement to the eidterol' :t huivesteizf ln machines constructed previous to nl v inveir tion it iiis been customary to connect the end ot the cutter wit lr the crank or other menus ol intimi-ting a reeiproent ing,Il motion by' nie-uns ot' u pitninn or conneeting-rod, which is jointed laces.

va harvester with a pitmanby means of a con-' y stiffness.

Y areeaused by thewear of the part-s at the end .resented in the accompanying:drawings the to the end' of the cutter by a hinge-joint. A l joint of this construction must of necessity be made heavy to be` sufficient-ly strong. It is also subjected togreat wear from the rapid movement of the parts, and from the fact that it is in a position to catch dirt,whieh is ground in the joint by the rapid motion. The' play produced by this wear causes a jar at each reversalv of the motion of the eutter,' which strains the machinery, and is a frequent cause nl breakage; an'd the wear in this joint lren-1 ders it necessary to repair the wearing-sur- The object of my invention is to obviate these defects by doing away with the joint between the pitman and the cutter; and my inventionconsist.` in combining the cutter of nection that is iiexible, and is located at 'the end of the pitman nearest the cutter, so as to permit the farther end of the pitinan tewerk upon the crank'-pin or other means of iinparting motion to the cutter without the .employinentof a hinged joint between the two. rIhe mode ol' constructing this part of my invention 'which I prefer is to formthe pitman in one piece with the plate of the cutter, and to obtain the requisite flexible connection at the end of the cutter by thinning the metal there, the remainder of the pitman being strengthened or rendered sti tlf-by securing an additional piece oi' metal upon it if the metal of the plate of the cutter, does not of itself afford the requisite The flexible connectionof the pitman dispenses with a hinged joint at' the cutter and with all play at such joint, and obviates the evilsthat are incident to the use of such ajo'int. It also permits the parts to be made of less weight and with less expense.

f The object of the third part of my invention is to obviate the -injurious eii'ects that of' thel cutter adjacent tothe pit-num. It'is well known that the action of the pitman upon the cutter of a harvester causes great wear in the bearings of the cutter at the end at which the pitman takes hold of it. This wear of the parts increases the size of the slot through which the cutter. plays, and permits grass, leaves, a nr l stalks to catch in the space between the cutter and its bearings and clog the cutter. The object of this part of my invention iste obviate this difficulty; and it consist-s in'conibining the shoewhieh forms thebearing of the cutter .adjacent to the pitman with an adjustable guide, lwhich can be setup against the cutter as the bearing' wears away, so as to compensate for the wear and prevent excessive play. As the lower bearing of the cutter at the pitinan end is generally a strong. metal shoe, and as by my invention the adjustable guide is combined with this shoe, the guide cannot spring away from the bearing, and the cutterl may always be kept moving in close proximity with the bearing in the shoe, however much the latter may be worn away.

In the portion of a harvesting-machine repbody 'A of the divider is formed of a plank, and is made fast to the finger-beam B, the portions of the divider which project in :ulvance of the finger-'beam and behind it being of about equal length. Theywheel C is located at the extreme front end of the body of the divider, and in this instance is overhung at the inner side of. the divider, the pivot or yaxle e, on which the wheel turnsbeingsecured transversely intoihe iront extremity of theldivider. The side .of the wheel() whichisznext to the body of the divider is hollowed out to receive the front extremity, d, thereof, which is sloped off so that its outer' face, at its point, is within the plane of the rim ofthe wheel. 'The rim of the wheel thus overlaps the point of the body of the divider, and, by guiding the grainstalks, Ste., past the edges of the interstiee be tween the wheel and that body, prevents the catching of clogging matter therein. In cases where the wheel-axle is to be supported o n both sides of the wheel, .bothfaces of the wheel should be hollowed, so that its rim may overlap both side bearings 0f the axle.

The sickle or cutter i' (represented in the drawings)is of the usual scalloped variety, and is arranged to reciprocate through the "slots of fingers a. It is caused to reciprocate by the revolution of a crank-pi n, g, with which it is connected by means of the flexible pitman H. This-pitman has atone extremity a stub end or eye, which. `lits upon the crankpi'n. It is in this instance a prolongation ci' 'the plate of the sickle, and isv thinned down a connection therewith that is suiiiciently iieai'i ble thereto permit its stub end "to work freely upon the crank-pin. .The crank-pin is secured to ahubor smallwheel upon ea shaft, k, to .which a continuous rotary motion is' imparted in the usual manner. The end of the sickle nearer the pitl'nan runsin a fiat .shoe, an, surmounted by an edge plate, n, to which the ad bolt, s, 'is passed, which secnres"'the adjust able guide to the edge plate, n,"of 'the shoe. Vhen the machine is to be made ready-for operation, the guide r is adjusted by'moving it cient play to permit it to move freely, and the guide is then made' fast by tightening the screw. When the parts in contact with the eutter are reduced by wear, the screw is slacked, the guide is set down to compensate the wear, and the screw is again tightened. The means of adjustment are so simple that the adjustment may be made by ausT farmer, who thus has it in his power toobviate the jarring and strain to the parts of themachine that arise from too great play, and to prevent the accumulation of clogging matter in the bearings of the eutterat the shoe." The adjustable guide may be fitted with a friction-wheel to bear up- `on the cutter, if such an addition be deemed expedient.

adjacent to the end of the sickle until it forms justable guide 1 is secured. Thel guide ycon-- sists in this instance of a blockperforated` with a vertical slot, through whicha screwidwnward until the cutter is left withv sui-f Any of the above parts of in v invention byinouns of n Iloxiblo connection at t-'no ond ol' muy be used without the others, if doomed oxthe pitnmn tlnli is 11o-.wer the enti-o1', substanpedient; but l; believe u harvester whii'li oniiinlly :is described. bodies all paris ol' my invention will bo Supo- $3. The combination ol' the slloo wliirli lfoi-nis; rior i0 ono that only usos ono or two paris the bearing of tho cutter of :L lxnrversiingunmi'lwroo". lchino with un adjustable guido scoured to said \Vli:itl clninr asniy invention7 and desir@y to ,slioe, substantially :is described. sornro by Lottois Patent, is# l'n tostiinony wlwrool' l linvvy lioronnto sub- ',1 llio combination ofaJ wheel with the, bod uv scribed in y nnnw.

ol' :L divider for a lin-rvesting1nucliino in such' nizninolitlint the whool forms the front ond oi' die divider, substantially nsdescribed. lVitnesSOS:

2.. 'llio combination of u reciprocating cut- M. B. Dunklen.

DA 'KIEL L. EMERSON.,

tor ot'n harvesting-innrliine with a stift Pitman .-l. G. MAN 1o\'1-;. 

